This is by far the most successful of Eliahu Inbal's Shostakovich cycle to date—somewhat surprisingly, given that the Fourth Symphony is notoriously difficult to hold together. Perhaps the fact that it is also the most Mahlerian in its range of moods plays to Inbal's strengths. Certainly, more than most conductors he manages to find natural tempos and to build them into a convincing succession, and Denon have given him a clarity and spaciousness of sound which surpass each of the listed comparisons.
The limitation is Inbal's cautiousness when it comes to emotional extremes, in particular when it comes to sustaining them over unexpectedly long paragraphs. The first warning sign is a slight loss of momentum in the transition section after the tank-like opening; but the fatal flaw is a very circumspect tempo for the manic fugue which precipitates the central crisis. This may be out of deference to the Vienna Symphony strings, though there is little sign of technical discomfort elsewhere in the work. Thereafter, for all the sound musical judgement and thoroughly prepared playing, I have the feeling that something vital to this terrifying symphony's raison d'etre has been glossed over.
Curiously the finest currently available versions, like Inbal's, are all with less than front-rank international orchestras, and all have their imperfections of execution. With the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra on Olympia you have to balance Rozhdestvensky's inspired but idiosyncratic conducting against tiringly tricksy Russian sound engineering. With the National Symphony Orchestra on Teldec a profoundly stirring experience is marred by Rostropovich's tendency to be ponderously over-literal with tempos. My best suggestion, given that the classic Kondrashin performance has recently been deleted, is the Scottish National Orchestra on Chandos—compare Jarvi with Inbal at any of the emotional crunch-points and you may begin to realize why.'